Medford pair charged in two-county crime spree

Wednesday

Sep 12, 2012 at 12:10 AMSep 12, 2012 at 2:33 AM

Two Medford residents face multiple identity theft felonies after they allegedly stole credit, debit and Social Security cards from more than two dozen victims during a series of home burglaries in Josephine County.

By Chris Conrad

Two Medford residents face multiple identity theft felonies after they allegedly stole credit, debit and Social Security cards from more than two dozen victims during a series of home burglaries in Josephine County.

A Jackson County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Jeffrey Randolph Blackwood and Shayna Lea Campos on two counts of aggravated identity theft, four counts of first-degree theft and two counts of identity theft.

Medford police Sgt. Brent Mak said the case against the pair began in July when Blackwood was arrested in a car loaded with stolen items, including checks, cards and documents.

"He had everything you could imagine: debit cards, credit cards, Social Security cards, mail," Mak said. "We found evidence that there were 27 separate victims in this case."

Police believe Blackwood and Campos burglarized homes in Josephine County and broke into numerous cars in Jackson County.

"These cards are more valuable than just stealing items from a home," Mak said.

Investigators were particularly disturbed by the crimes because some of the burglaries occurred while the victims were inside their homes, Mak said.

In one burglary, Blackwood stole a valuable coin collection and took the coins to a Coinstar change machine at a local Walmart to exchange them for instant cash.

"These were some pretty exclusive coins that were worth a lot of money," Mak said. "A man in line behind them at the Coinstar machine said he would buy them, but they refused to sell them."

Mak said they received "pennies on the dollar" for the coins after exchanging them in the machine.

Mak said detectives believe the pair targeted the Josephine County homes because of the lack of law enforcement in that area.

They believed they were safe from law enforcement because of recent budget cuts that stripped the Josephine County Sheriff's Office of most of its patrols and jail space, he said.

Mak said the Medford Police Department will pursue the identity thefts and car break-ins that occurred in Jackson County, but the residential burglaries in Josephine County most likely will not be investigated.

"They aren't doing any sort of investigation up there, so those home burglaries won't be charged," Mak said.

Mak said Tammy Blackwood, who is the mother of Jeffrey Blackwood, faces hindering prosecution charges for allegedly hiding her son while knowing he was committing the burglaries.